Supernatural: The Complete Sixth Season DVD Review

More other-worldly shenanigans from this popular WB series.

I'm rather surprised that Supernatural has remained as consistent as it has these past six years. Other WB shows tend to grow stale after about five years or so, but Supernatural manages to stand above the rest.

Sure, the overarching story tends to repeat itself from time-to-time, but the twists and turns remain refreshing, and the show's two main characters, Dean and Sam (played by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki), continue to grow and evolve as the series persists. With this season, they've become more emotionally complex than they ever were in the first two or three seasons.

As most fans already know, Season 6 could have gone in a very bad direction. The show's old showrunner, Eric Kripke, had stepped down, having completed the story he set out to tell. What would Season 6 bring without his guiding hand? Would our heroes eventually find themselves somewhere outlandish, like space? Would the show slip into camp territory? Or would the show just continually drag itself out, like Smallville did? Thankfully, this latest helping didn't stray much from its core themes, and we got a season that largely focused on our heroes, who found themselves grounded in a less epic overarching narrative.

As such, Season 6 almost plays like a reboot of the show, introducing us to the brothers once again and immersing the audience in their world. And with a few knockout episodes to keep things going, this latest season reminded us that not all shows outstay their welcome. Let's hope Season 7 can keep up the good work.

Supernatural: The Complete Sixth Season touches down on DVD with the usual fanfare. Extras are pretty fantastic. Not only do fans get two episode commentaries from the crew to enjoy, there's also an assortment of thorough goodies to explore. There are two making-of documentaries, one that looks at Jensen Ackles' directorial debut and one that explores the show's spiritual mythology. Both run about a half-hour and prove incredibly comprehensive. The set concludes with two bonus episodes from the Supernatural anime series, a gag reel and a series of alternate takes and outtakes from the episode "The French Mistake."

Blu-ray owners are treated a few additional features, including an interactive experience for each episode, loaded with interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. There's also a trivia track for the episode "The French Mistake."

If you've seen Supernatural on DVD, you know what you're getting when it comes to the transfers. Warner doesn't skip a beat here, delivering a pristine standard definition presentation rich with depth and detail, and as little compression as possible. Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, and while it's a tad underwhelming at times, never fully breaking through the TV realm of five channel sound design, it's about on par with previous seasons.

Supernatural: The Complete Sixth Season is definitely a must-own set for the fans. If you've got a Blu-ray player, give the HD version a purchase instead. Six years in and this series doesn't show many signs of wearing thin. That's impressive for a WB series.